Not a “moral” panic, though. Rather, what Pere Ubu presciently (in 1978!) termed DATAPANIK IN THE YEAR ZERO.
I think Street Fighter also got a mention in congress IIRC.
It’s all fun and games until kids everywhere are levitating around, conjuring fireballs at each other…
This is your favorite moral panic?
We used to play that song, Number Nine, backwards, to hear “turn me on dead man”; it was very much there. I never believed Paul was dead though, and I think I was eleven or twelve at the time. Born suspicious I guess.
Backward masking? You guys are amateurs. You take the belt off a belt-driven turntable and put a 180-degree flip in in it. (Or, if you don’t want to ruin the belt, make a belt out of rubber bands.) The platter will spin backwards at the correct speed. A Stanton 681EEE cartridge was favored, as they would stand up to this a lot better than most.
Just saying…
Seeing many of his past posts & threads, it very much is.
As most people seem to have interpreted the question as meaning which one is funniest, no, I don’t think it’s funny at all. I think it’s sad that it’s ruining lives. But its the moral panic that, at this moment, most needs to be identified as a moral panic.
Even worse was color TV, because it emitted ‘radiation’.
That rape is a act of sex. For centuries, women who were taped were said to be “asking for it” by sending the wrong signals, wearing tight clothes, walking alone at night, and any other reason people could think of. Even if the victim was a female child.
I remember a newspaper writing “Though the woman was assaulted (Back then, “rape” was a dirty word), she was not physically hurt.” And people said making prostitution legal would stop rape.
Rape is an act of violence. Plan and simple.
The current germophobic panic is outrageous. People using germicide all day long. People wearing surgical masks in public. People wiping off store’s counters before placing their items on it.
Heaven forbid you should pick up a germ and develop an immune system.
But there is often a step between picking up a germ and developing an immune system: Trying to survive a dread disease.
Obligatory Primus - Lee Van Cleef
People wearing masks, IME, are either immuno-compromised (like my dad) or trying to prevent themselves spreading illness if they have to go out in public.
I’d seen footage of Japanese pedestrians with masks on. I was surprised to find out when I went there that it wasn’t people afraid of getting sick, it was people being considerate, making sure they didn’t pass germs (usually cold/flu) to others.
Except his minions can’t compete with Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
:dubious: People wearing masks are being *considerate *of others, not germophobic. It’s because they are sick and don’t want to make other people sick.
I have one friend who wears a mask in public more than she’d like, usually because her WBC count has fluctuated, and she is protective of her new kidney* but still needs to be at work.
My “favorite” moral panic was the “Procter and Gamble is run by Satanists” thing. IIRC, P&G recently won a civil suit against some Amway shills for that mess. (And honestly, I didn’t mind that my grandmother bought into the rumor. At the time, I was a preteen and living with my grandparents, and had no say in purchasing decisions. Tide detergent makes me itch mightily, I hate the smell of Ivory soap**, and I hate the taste of OG Crest toothpaste, so I was down with the few months when we used Colgate and All(?) and whatever soap Grandmother bought. The moral outrage petered out around the time my mom was able to manage life a little better, so that was a nice coincidence.)
*My friend’s kidney is named Leroy. He’s spoiled, but he works hard and deserves some pampering.
**You only have to get your mouth washed out once to develop a permanent aversion to a type of soap.